Date of Award

8-16-2024

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

English Language and Literatures

First Advisor

Qiana Whitted

Abstract

This dissertation interrogates the ways that society views women with/in power through Arthurian adaptation. The body of work that makes up the Arthurian story is a sort of folk legend, a myth being told and retold by various authors in their own way. By using folk studies to analyze both medieval and modern texts, we can dissect what is important enough to remain over time. This signifies cultural values; things that have remained over time are reflective of the values of the writers producing these works, as well as the audiences consuming them. By interrogating these stories, we can make a judgment about how the Arthurian legends reflect these values across time. This is especially true regarding the character Morgan le Fay, the focus of this project. The most powerful female character in the Arthurian legends, Morgan is a very complex character. She starts off as a very vague but benevolent character, but as the story develops, becomes very antagonistic. What does this have to say about societal comforts/discomforts regarding women with power? How do these portrayals change over time, both within the medieval texts themselves and from the medieval canon to the modern adaptations? How do different media and genres affect her portrayal? These are the questions this project addresses. The project seeks to understand how these different portrayals of Morgan – from medieval to modern – reflect how she serves as a lens through which to view how society feels about women with/in power. Morgan is a powerful character. This makes her alternately either a hero or a threat. What does it say when she is a hero? What does it say when she is a threat? Why does she take on either role? What is the context in which she takes on that role? How does that context shape that role? These questions are important to ask, not just for the answers themselves, but for what the answers can tell us about the society that produces and consumes these texts. These stories can tell us a lot about the way we still feel about women with/in power.

Rights

© 2024, Colleen Victoria Etman

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